Who's got power over the port?

PORTSMOUTH — Power over the port is at the center of a bill on the brink of passage that has some local officials worried it will give the Pease Development Authority ultimate authority.

Adam Leech

PORTSMOUTH — Power over the port is at the center of a bill on the brink of passage that has some local officials worried it will give the Pease Development Authority ultimate authority.

State House Bill No. 65 overwhelmingly passed the House, 243-68, earlier this month. It would transfer power to appoint the director of the state's Division of Ports and Harbors from the governor and Executive Council to the PDA and would give the PDA authority to lease division property.

The bill, sponsored by Portsmouth Reps. Laura Pantelakos and Jim Powers, was designed for the 2007 legislative sessions to simply give the PDA hiring and firing authority over the port director, a position currently held by Geno Marconi. It went to committee study, which included several public hearings, and came out amended to bring the port under the same guidelines granted to the PDA.

Should the bill become law, the major concerns of several Portsmouth city councilors and others is the prospect of their having no oversight over long-term leases that could significantly alter division properties in the Seacoast. Harbors in Rye and Hampton, as well as the Market Street pier in Portsmouth, are part of the division.

"My concern is, it doesn't allow us or the state to have any input on what happens with leases," City Councilor Esther Kennedy said. "You could have someone have a 100-year lease to an organization and then we have a problem with a hotel down on the port."

City Manager John Bohenko, who is a sitting PDA member, has repeatedly expressed concerns with the long-term leases. He plans to work with Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth, to create a legislative amendment to the bill that requires public hearings prior to leasing port property.

Pantelakos, who is also a city councilor, said she wants more local oversight and feedback. The bill would also allow business to be done quicker than what the bimonthly meetings of the governor's Executive Council currently provides, she said.

"The governor and Executive Council have 150 contracts in front of them at any time and they go through them in a couple hours," she said. "I think the public hearings before the PDA is the better way to go."

The Executive Council is opposed to the bill. District 3 Councilor Beverly Hollingworth said the bill is an "extremely unusual piece of legislation" because it transfers power over state land from an elected body to an unelected body operating without state oversight. To have the port director appointed by the PDA rather than the council or governor is also very rare, she said.

The PDA is a seven-person board appointed by the governor, House speaker, Senate president, the Strafford County delegation, the city of Portsmouth, town of Newington and another member appointed by both communities.

"It's been called a turf fight. It's not," Hollingworth said. "We are a little disappointed the legislative branch doesn't trust the executive branch, but we're saying if not us, then you, (the Legislature) — not an unelected board."

Gov. John Lynch said recently he supports the bill and will sign it into law if it passes the Senate.

"He believes if the director is going to report to the executive director and the board, it would make sense," said Colin Manning, press secretary for the governor. "It makes for better management, better accountability and better oversight."

Pantelakos' argument that the Executive Council does not represent the Seacoast communities may be true, according to Hollingworth, but, like it or not, the port is state land and what happens there has statewide ramifications.

"You need to have elected officials who are accountable to the people in the state," Hollingworth said.

The bill has gone through a radical transformation through the nearly two years and 16 committee meetings since Powers co-sponsored the bill. He is still in favor of the bill, but is not convinced handing over control of leases is a good thing.

"Time will tell whether the lease issue was in the best (interest) of the state or not," Powers said. "I still think having the appointment under more local control, rather than a political situation involving the Executive Council, is a good idea."

Pantelakos dismissed the idea that a hotel could be built at the port, saying the city has an agreement with the state that ownership would revert back to the city if the port is no longer a working port. She said there are sufficient safeguards that will prevent anything like a hotel from suddenly appearing.

"I don't know how in blazes you could ever get a hotel down there," Pantelakos said, "unless you've got underwater parking."

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